“Got a glimpse of the void now you wish you were dead.”
Doom trap will likely be a genre that was largely unfamiliar to many until very recently, blending the traditional structures of trap with crunching bass, harsh vocals and frenzied riffs. The genre has given rise to the likes of $uicideboy$, Ghostemane and BONES, and with their influence slowly making its way over to post-hardcore, its sound is becoming difficult to miss out on. Looking to add their name to the staples of the genre is the UK’s Mimi Barks, who has concocted their own brutal twist sound that has been released through a string of singles such as “nihil” “ABYSS” and “RAD“. These now come bundled together with a handful of new tracks in a mixtape titled DEADGIRL.
What is immediately apparent is the feral nature of the tracks continued within DEADGIRL. The title track along with “ASHES” seem guided by an unhinged fury, with later track “ABYSS” diving into the deep on this and seemingly breaking the seems of its own structure. With the trap beats blasting away in the background, Barks switches between anguished harsh vocals and bars with ease, even delivering some gutturals on the aforementioned “ASHES“, and closer “ABYSS“. In more paced moments such as in “nihil“, the intensity doesn’t slip away, as Barks cries out “I’m chasing the sun in a world that has none“, its torment inescapable.
The rumbling bass accompanied by a trap beat is the main backbone of the mixtape, with “10stepsback” making the move of sampling a Casio bleep. These provide a suitable backing track for Barks’ bars to sit atop, yet there is a feeling it lacks a standout moment instrumentally. Further, tracks like “SUICIDE” were waiting to burst out into something larger sonically and awaken the senses, though falls short on the delivery of that. While it is likely a lot of these tracks will have said impact in a live setting, it is difficult to not slightly yearn for some unbridled aggression instrumentally on record.
The talent present on DEADGIRL is undeniable, even in its rudimentary format as a mixtape. With its presentation and sound, it will likely draw in listeners and followers from varying genres such as metalcore, alt. rock and post-hardcore, with the aggression on tracks “ASHES” and “UNDEAD IT” more than matching up to that seen on those genres. There is evidently something much bigger and better to come from Mimi Barks, and further there is curiosity at just how this sound and vision would be crafted into a full-length record. With this just being the beginning for the UK artist, Barks is certainly one to keep tabs on for the future.
7.5/10
Deadgirl is out this Friday, December 16th, via Silent Cult. And you can pre-order the record here.